This past summer Michael Faber, Hillel’s executive director and chaplain, retired after 31 years of service to the college. He will be succeeded by Igor Khokhlov, who has worked for Cornell University’s Hillel for the last three years.

“Hillel’s mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world,” Khokhlov said. “As the incoming executive director, I’m excited to build those partnerships with the Jewish community at Ithaca College and far beyond.”

With that mission in mind, the parents of a current student have given the largest gift in the IC chapter’s history. The Peter and Dorette Forman Family Fund for Hillel at Ithaca College will fund a variety of projects and events programming during the upcoming academic year.

The Forman Family Fund, created by a generous gift of $50,000 from Peter and Dorette Forman, parents of a student in the class of ’14, includes a $10,000 gift toward the Hillel Program Endowment Fund. Hillel will use the remainder to work with the college to encourage greater Jewish undergraduate enrollment, as well as for operating expenses for Hillel programs and activities, including increased kosher campus dining options, grant money for Jewish students to create innovative grassroots programming, and increased funding for student leadership training and conference attendance.

Khokhlov said he looks forward to the many opportunities and long-term benefits afforded by the Forman family’s gift. “Hillel becomes a supplemental network throughout students’ college years and remains in their lives after they graduate, so student memories of Hillel are associated with their alma mater—increasing volunteer engagement and philanthropic support from alumni.”